Purpose of courthouse Bible display debated

Purpose of Bible display debatedJudge questions whether memorial at courthouse was erected with religion in mind

POLLY ROSS HUGHES, Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

Published
6:30 am CST, Thursday, December 8, 2005

AUSTIN - A federal appeals court judge Wednesday asked whether a local politician pledging to return religion to government had "hijacked" a Harris County courthouse Bible display 10 years ago for political purposes.

"It was in effect taken over for political purposes," 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge E. Grady Jolly said during oral arguments in the case, asking whether a reasonable person would conclude that "politics hijacked this monument."

Jolly was referring to former state District Judge John Devine who had campaigned to "put Christianity into government," and led the 1995 effort to restore the monument after it fell into disrepair.

But Jolly added that recent politics surrounding the Bible display must also be weighed against its primary purpose when erected by the Star of Hope Mission 30 years ago as a memorial to a local, Christian philanthropist.

Last year a trial court in Houston ordered an opened King James version of the Bible removed from the restored monument outside the Harris County Civil Court Building, saying it signalled government endorsement of religion.

The case arrived at the 5th Circuit because Harris County appealed, arguing that the trial judge erred by focusing on the Bible and not the context in which it is displayed.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented Houston real estate lawyer Kay Staley, contend the display and its purpose were overtly religious from the start.

"I think it's very clear that the reason the Bible was out there was for a religious purpose," said Staley, 63, who describes herself as a humanist who earned an A on a law school paper on church versus state issues.

"If this case goes against me, there's going to be jillions of monuments that are going to have all these kinds of Bibles that go up," she said.

'Religious message'

Former Star of Hope President Carloss Morris testified in district court that the Bible in the memorial represented the Christian faith of late Houston businessman and mission supporter William S. Mosher.

He also asserted that this is a Christian nation and the monument shows "we've got a Christian government," Staley's attorneys pointed out in a brief to the appeals court.

"If everyone in Harris County ... accepted Christ as their savior, we would be better than if they were all Hindus," the brief quotes from Morris' testimony.

Staley's attorneys also noted that clergy were present and Christian prayers were recited at a dedication ceremony for the monument in 1956.

A 1995 restoration ceremony attended by Devine and his court reporter included clergy, prayers and singing of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the Staley brief notes.

"The monument's history — from its creation in the 1950s, to its refurbishment in 1995, to its modern day retention — only cements the religious message that the monument conveys," argued Ayesha Khan, the appellate attorney for Staley.

Honoring a philanthropist

Assistant County Attorney Bruce Powers told the court the monument had stood unchallenged for 40 years, though Staley's attorneys countered that it had been vandalized, with the Bible stolen eight years before the restoration.

Powers argued that the monument conveys the secular message that it is honoring the life of a Christian philanthropist who helped the poor rather than promoting religion.

He also said the monument represents the private speech of the Star of Hope Mission and that its placement near the courthouse, with its hectic crowds and noisy street traffic "suggests nothing that is sacred."